GRAND RAPIDS -- When Stephanie Drotar envisioned her wedding, she pictured a lush green lawn at Ah-Nab-Awen Park, with the cityscape and the Grand River in the background.

The 25-year-old may get all that, but minus the green lawn.

The park's lawn, instead, will be mostly a pattern of large white lines and squiggles for the giant artwork of Chicago artist Deborah Adams Doering. The entry will be part of ArtPrize, an art exhibition and competition Sept. 23 through Oct. 10 at 159 downtown venues.

It's an unappealing prospect for Drotar, who paid nearly $500 in early January to rent the park, 303 Pearl St. NW, for her Oct. 3 wedding to college sweetheart Daniel Symons.

To her dismay, she learned about two weeks ago the park's lawn would be the canvas for Adams Doering's entry.

Drotar is worried the painted design, titled "Code for the Grand River, Grand Rapids_09," will detract from the 200-guest, formal-attire ceremony she has been planning since last year.

"It's not what we signed up for," said the Forest Hills Northern High School and Western Michigan University graduate.

"We wouldn't have rented the park if we had known."

Ah-Nab-Awen Park is one of nine city-owned properties that are ArtPrize venues.

Adams Doering's project, intended to symbolize the link between nature and technology, was selected for the park by city officials Aug. 15 -- with knowledge of the Symons-Drotar wedding.

"We knew there was a wedding," said Jose Reyna, assistant to the city manager. "We did not know exactly where in the park the wedding was to take place."

Reyna said city officials believed the artwork and wedding could share the park without problems and did not anticipate an issue.

City rental agreements for parks exclude the city from programming other events on the same day but say nothing about the condition or look of the park, he said.

The city and Adams Doering are trying to work with Drotar and Symons so they might be happier with the artwork, Reyna said.

Adams Doering already revised the project to leave more greenspace, but there are no plans to scrap or move it, Reyna said.

"We are trying to do everything we can to make sure both the artist and the couple are pleased," Reyna said.

Adams Doering is willing to look at a compromise, said Sally Zarafonetis, her spokeswoman.

"She wants to be sensitive to where the wedding ceremony is going to be, but at the same time wants to keep her work the way it is intended to be," Zarafonetis said. "She believes they can co-exist."

The artwork is expected to go up on the park's lawn Sept. 21 and last through Oct. 10.

Drotar was not happy with a conceptual redesign she viewed Wednesday. The art, called an earthwork sculpture, still consumed a large portion of the lawn.

She feels deceived by the city.

"My fiance and I worked very hard to pay for our own wedding. The whole thing is taking away from our day," Drotar said.

"Our understanding of our contract is the park was to be presented in a certain way, and it is not."

While Drotar supports ArtPrize, she wishes the art at her wedding site would just not be massive lawn art.

She and her fiance, who met at WMU, moved to North Carolina for work about a year ago. The 26-year-old Symons is a Shelby native.

Both have family in West Michigan and want to be married here, Drotar said. Invitations have been sent, she added.

Bill Holsinger-Robinson, operations manager for ArtPrize, said he hopes the two sides reach an amicable solution.